Offshore Repairs Two North Sea contracts completed by Allseas Allseas’ 403,342 gt heavy lift vessel Pioneering Spirit has completed a successful processing and accommodation topsides and flare jackets removal campaign as part of the Tyra Redevelopment Project for Total E&P Denmark. Over the last two weeks, Pioneering Spirit removed more than 27,000 tonnes of platform facilities from the North Sea’s Tyra gas field, transporting the structures to specialist yards in Denmark and the Netherlands for recycling. The final two structures, flare jackets, will be transferred from Pioneering Spirit to a cargo barge for load-in to the Sagro yard in Vlissingen, Netherlands. The two processing and accommodation topsides and connected facilities were delivered in two earlier trips to the M.A.R.S. recycling yard in Frederikshavn, Denmark. Structures were removed one-by-one in a time-critical sequence of lifts that required Pioneering Spirit to cover hundreds of miles between Denmark, the North Sea and the Netherlands during the two-week execution window. The 14,000 tonne TEA topsides and 7,800 tonne TWA topsides were removed with the vessel’s motion compensated topsides lift system. For the smaller, lighter structures, the vessel’s new aft-mounted 5,000 tonne crane was deployed. After transfer of the flare jackets to a cargo barge in Vlissingen, Pioneering Spirit sailed to Kristiansand, Norway, to prepare for its final removal job of 2020, the Ninian Northern topsides for Canadian Natural Resources International. Allseas’ role in the redevelopment project covers engineering, preparation, removal, transportation, load-in to shore and recycling of the Tyra East Alpha (TEA) and Tyra West Alpha (TWA) topsides and jackets, integrated production facilities (IPF) module, two flare jackets and monopile. The Pioneering Spirit will return to the Tyra field to remove the TWA jacket in 2021 and the TEA jacket in 2022. Meanwhile, Pioneering Spirit has successfully completed her third and final decommissioning job of 2020, a single-lift removal of the North Sea’s 14,200 tonne Ninian Northern topsides for CNR International (CNRI). Completed during the end part of August, the operation took approximately 2 hrs, from connecting the vessel’s lifting beams to the platform to the lift,
The single-lift removal of the 14,000 tonnes TEA topsides by Pioneering Spirit ensuring environmental emissions from the removal activities were kept to a minimum with the efficient vessel systems. The actual ‘fast lift’ of the topsides took only 7 seconds. Pioneering Spirit will now deliver the topsides to the Peterson-Veolia yard in Dales Voe, Shetland, for disposal. The facility will target over a 97% reuse/recycle ratio and create a number of jobs over the period the topsides are dismantled. The eight steel legs were cut during a second phase of preparations in 2019. Pioneering Spirit will return to the Ninian field in summer 2022 to remove the supporting jacket structure. After transfer and load-in of the Ninian Northern topsides at Dales Voe, the vessel will sail to Rotterdam, the Netherlands, for jacket lift system installation works and to prepare for upcoming projects.
FPSO contract for Sulzer Delivering routine maintenance services requires a concerted team effort, such as that demonstrated by Sulzer when replacing a large motor from FPSO in the North Sea. It is quite an effort to remove a component as large as a 10.7 MW motor so that it can be taken onshore for planned maintenance. This task alone requires some expert precision, while the refurbishment needs to be completed by a properly qualified service centre that is approved to work on components that are ex-rated and operate in potentially explosive atmospheres. In this case, Sulzer was contracted to complete a motor change-out due to deterioration of the installed equipment, which had been in service for 10 years. The motor, which was originally manufactured by Laurence Scott in 2007, powers a high-pressure export compressor. Sulzer is currently the authorised repairer for ATB Laurence Scott motors and offers its technical expertise and rapid response to all customers, especially those operating in the North Sea.
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WA complex lift plan needed to be put in place before the motor was loaded onto a waiting vessel and transported to Sulzer’s service centre in Falkirk. A team of Sulzer’s engineers are specially trained for working in offshore environments and assist in disconnecting, removing and packaging the motor ready for transport. Although much of the refurbishment process was routine, special attention was required with all of the electrical connections and their enclosures to ensure continued compliance with ex-regulations. Any equipment that is designed for operation in potentially explosive atmospheres, must be repaired and installed by suitably qualified engineers. The facilities within the Sulzer network, such as the in-house copper mill and high voltage (HV) coil manufacturing centre, combined with expertise in the offshore sector, were some of the many reasons that the company was selected. In this case, Sulzer was holding a spare motor in stock, and this would be installed to minimise downtime on the FPSO. Due to the complex crane lift required to transfer the motor onto the vessel, the operation had to be carefully timed to coincide with a calm sea state, which is something of a rarity in the North Sea. Once all of the work was complete, the rebuilt motor was comprehensively tested before a full factory acceptance test (FAT) was carried out by ATB LS. The test ensures that the correct procedures have been carried out and that the rebuilt motor meets OEM standards and can be reinstalled.
Reinstalling the rotor as the project draws to a close
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